i cannot zine. i lost my zine mojo. since i work for blogs and had to turn in my paid work in advanced this month i just been slacking in general. however zine-making used to be daily. after getting a sinus infection that was around 2+ weeks i feel like a slacker.

i would like to maybe make an ocd zine about the type of ocd i have (emotional attachment - not often understood). i am thinking if i try a new way - hand writing it or something i will be more motivated? :/

i cannot zine. i lost my zine mojo. since i work for blogs and had to turn in my paid work in advanced this month i just been slacking in general. however zine-making used to be daily. after getting a sinus infection that was around 2+ weeks i feel like a slacker.

i would like to maybe make an ocd zine about the type of ocd i have (emotional attachment - not often understood). i am thinking if i try a new way - hand writing it or something i will be more motivated? :/

That sounds like a cool idea. Maybe you could try writing in a notebook you carry around with you - I've started doing it recently, and I get bits and pieces done every so often.

Writing is going well. I've got more than 25000 words now and most of them have been re-edited a trillion times already but I'm also just trying to continue and finish this thing. I've talked about it in my therapy, the doubts and wanting to throw it all away, and one of the things my therapists always says is to acknowledge the negative thoughts and self doubt and "do it anyway". So far it's working, I hope I can keep it up.

_________________

lepelaar wrote:

The PPK is a mere cooking seminar for flexitarians who believe in the good of man, but might be a good resource for 3d video expertise and ready-made inhumane slaughterhouse timelines.

I had to take a long break from writing. I suffered from writer's block and just couldn't fit it into my life anymore, but now I am back in full force! I made an outline for a book I am excited about, and the ideas would not stop flowing. I am also reading writing reference books, and I want to be a writer for real now. Writing has always given me satisfaction that lots of other things can't. I think this is what I am meant to do.

The only problem is the excitement it causes and now I don't really get to sleep. I am most creative at night when it is quiet and again, so much excitement!

So this isn't SO much a writing victory, but it IS a writing follow through victory - I edited one of the videos I wrote right away, and I managed to release it only two weeks after principal photography! I've got two more to edit, and I hope to keep up the pace... but I'm off to a good start!

Yay! So excited to hear about your guys productivity!!! So happy to see vijita is writing again too!!! <3 <3 <3

Well, I've no time for writing (still!) but tinkered with my most recent poem and it's pretty much finished. I have one short poem as my output for May and naturally I want more, but I have to be happy with what I can do. I start jury duty Monday so I'm bringing my notebook and some writing drafts with me to see if I can get any work done there as I hear there is a lot of sitting around time with jury duty but it's difficult for me to fully concentrate when lots of people and distractions are around but I can try and see how it goes. Keep writing everyone!!!!

i cannot zine. i lost my zine mojo. since i work for blogs and had to turn in my paid work in advanced this month i just been slacking in general. however zine-making used to be daily. after getting a sinus infection that was around 2+ weeks i feel like a slacker.

i would like to maybe make an ocd zine about the type of ocd i have (emotional attachment - not often understood). i am thinking if i try a new way - hand writing it or something i will be more motivated? :/

That sounds like a cool idea. Maybe you could try writing in a notebook you carry around with you - I've started doing it recently, and I get bits and pieces done every so often.

I second this. I have been doing the notebook thing for years now and it's a total habit. I have one in my purse, at my bedside, on my work desk and then my regular most-used notebook which I keep in my living room on the couch (where I do most of my writing, lounging like Madame Pompadour on my couch with my legs stretched out and laptop or writing notebook on my lap--I'm not a desk or coffee shop writer). They really are amazingly good for getting down this little nuggets of ideas that occur to you so you can jot down and remember and make something of them later (if you don't have time to get into a full writing session at the time you think something up).

So after 5.5 weeks, I got a rejection. On the bright side the editor said it was one of the best tales of thievery and time travel they'd seen, so at least I feel a little encouraged.

Excellent! And it's always awesome when editors specifically comment because they read tons of stuff so always special when they take the time to single someone out for encouragement. I call that a "good rejection". Great going! <3 <3 <3

Well, my May poem is finally complete and I submitted it to three places just a week or so ago (with some other earlier poems as they like to see batches of poetry). No response yet. In the end, I cut the beginning like I said I would hate to do and a stanza in the middle was cut I also really liked. It was a case of too many images and different directions muddying the idea's purity. It's the best thing for the piece as a whole. Common case of murdering your darlings which is something you always wind up doing editorially, at some point, in the end. Now that it's clean, I think it's good and I think someone, somewhere, might publish it eventually. Onward!

Unfortunately, I have nothing else going but the bare beginnings of two short stories I have no time to get to going...but still...Onward!

I've finished the first draft of my novella, but it feels too fresh in my mind to edit just yet. I'm currently writing a short story for my partner, as well as some fanfiction because oniisama e sort of broke my heart and I wanted to write an alternate reality where it didn't!

I've finished the first draft of my novella, but it feels too fresh in my mind to edit just yet. I'm currently writing a short story for my partner, as well as some fanfiction because oniisama e sort of broke my heart and I wanted to write an alternate reality where it didn't!

This is awesome! Congrats on finishing the first draft. Woohoo!!!! Haha...I love the idea of changing a reality to suit you when you were heartbroken by original outcome! That is always a fine reason to tackle a project.

Minor submission gripe: So, I submitted story. The time that they say they send out most rejections (which is shockingly fast) passes. No rejection. I check the online tracking. Still under consideration. I wait. Yesterday, I check the online tracking and see it's been rejected the day before. OK, I steel myself for a rejection letter. Which has yet to come. Not even a form rejection. The wording on their website leads me to believe that they do send out rejection letters. So I guess this makes me feel sort of extra shitty, even though I know it's just one of those mistakes that happen.

I still feel really good about the story - I just need to find the right market for it. I mean, I guess it's safe to go ahead and submit it elsewhere after I give it another read to make sure I haven't accidentally sent out a manuscript that's accidentally a bunch of random gibberish in the middle, rather than my story.

Most places do send at least a form rejection but not every place. I'm always kind of surprised at places that don't too. I think it generates automatically via their submission system so I don't think it's actually too much trouble to do so in this day and age!

You have the right attitude though, going forward. One poem of mine that finally got picked up by someone I had already sent to at least ten places before that rejected it--maybe more. When this one place finally accepted it after shopping it every place, they also accepted another poem that "asked a question" so to speak, so I could tell that was their theme. What the editors want is just so variable you can never anticipate it. Sometimes I think it must be determined by what they receive from their submission call. I sent to one place a while back who wanted "gothic" submissions so I sent them a classic sort of ghost story (rejected) and then when I got the copy of said issue, the theme wasn't so gothic anymore and I just figure when they went through the slush pile, they kind of changed the theme to fit what they wanted to publish and I could see then that what I wrote didn't fit what they ultimately went with. Just keep doing the best you can and believe in yourself and keep submitting! I get rejected ALL THE TIME. Since I last posted on June 15, I got at least two rejections and expect more, many, many more to come lawlz. And I'm not even submitting that much these days because I don't have time. Keep writing and keep submitting! <3 <3 <3

Well, I've been creating so little lately. So little time is the problem! Need to do so much more work than I used to stay above zero due to pay cut at work so no time for creative writing.

Culled a shortish poem from the draft of a longer, completely unfinished poem I wrote a year or maybe more ago in the last couple of weeks but that's about it. Oh, edited the ghost story thoroughly once again and hope to God someone just takes it off my hands already so I never have to look at it again. This all takes time so I should be pleased for these little bits of progress on those fronts. Like, editing the ghost story which has already been reworked thoroughly at least twice, the latest reworking took about six hours total to get to it's newest version.

Thinking LOTS and formulating three other stories I'm just chomping at the bit to find time to really work on. Well, maybe some work on those today! Keep writing, everyone! <3 <3 <3

SV - I've been a little frustrated with my own output, lately. Especially because I felt really productive for awhile. But this weekend I'm working on a couple of stories. Hopefully, I'll get to the point where I just have to keep up the momentum and finish them over the next couple of weeks. Yeah?

Good luck on carving out the time to get some work done this weekend! I hope someone snatches up that ghost story really, really soon.

Yay, Olives. Hope you got some work done on your short stories. I did not that weekend...I just relaxed instead!

However, today I just joined a writers group in my community (for adult fiction writers) and this starts mid-late September just to kick my motivation back into gear. Knowing I have to present fiction once a month to a group will force me to polish something/keep polishing something to make it presentable for other writers and readers.

I'm also joining a poetry workshop (this for a temporary two month run) with a visiting poet through my public library so Imma be attacking my writing at all angles over the next few months--both poetry and prose! Hopefully this will up my productivity.

I have to give up Toastmasters, though, which has done it's job for me anyway--I feel much more comfortable about reading in front of a group than I did when I joined last winter and that's what I wanted out of it. Now that it's more into memorized speechifying since I've progressed in the communicators manual, I've become less interested since motivational/public speaking is simply not something I want to pursue in any deep sense anyway. I just want to write, really, poetry and prose, in the final analysis. That's the one goal that's stayed constant throughout my whole life and nothing has ever changed that. Toastmasters is a fun experience though and I recommend it to any writers, who, like me, struggle with the idea of reading publicly. It can really help with the stage fright. Also, I met some lovely people there who I hope to continue to be friends with. Onward!!!

Thank you, Gwenlet, for your kind remarks. Yes, I need to start holding myself accountable as left to my own druthers, my writing is going nowhere lately! I've got a ton of ideas and little inner motivation lately so I need to look for motivation outwardly until I get back into the groove. Being in workshops is always stimulating in terms of motivation and ideas for me.

Awesome goal for you! We`ve got to take advantage of those quiet times to do our creative stuff! <3 <3 <3

The workshops sound like a great idea, sv. I wonder if I should see if I can find a writing group near me? I hope you manage to find some motivation soon. It's so frustrating when you have ideas buzzing around your head that never make it onto paper (at least, mine often don't).

Today I got a rejection that was extra disappointing, because several weeks ago the magazine in question emailed me to say that a first reader really liked my story, and they wanted to keep it for further consideration. So close (well closer) and yet...

I've had a story in my trunk for awhile - it has a concept I liked a lot (and have worked through several iterations). Today I had an idea that I think will actually solve its problems (which include a bleak, predictable ending). Even though I haven't been writing as much or as well as I would like to recently, I'm hopeful I can make these changes in the next couple of days... see what emerges.

I found it through meetup.com. There are also other writing groups in this area (well, at least one other on meetup.com taking place in my community) so if the first one isn't a good fit for me, I could try another.

Also through meetup I signed up for a poetry night tomorrow night. I might do an open mike! Test my Toastmaster skills. I'm doing an official reading to help launch an anthology later in the fall at a local public library so I think I should try a poetry reading in front of a group first so the library reading won't be such a big deal when the time comes and I don't impose my first night nerves all over the other fellow poets who will be reading and who are probably more professional than amateur me at this point :).

Olives wrote:

Good luck with your workshop, SV!

Today I got a rejection that was extra disappointing, because several weeks ago the magazine in question emailed me to say that a first reader really liked my story, and they wanted to keep it for further consideration. So close (well closer) and yet...

I've had a story in my trunk for awhile - it has a concept I liked a lot (and have worked through several iterations). Today I had an idea that I think will actually solve its problems (which include a bleak, predictable ending). Even though I haven't been writing as much or as well as I would like to recently, I'm hopeful I can make these changes in the next couple of days... see what emerges.

Thanks for the good luck wishes!

I get those hold backs after first readings, etc., they want to hold my material over to consider for the next issue, etc., from time to time. While it's flattering because that means your writing caught their attention and it passed the first reader and onto the final-say editors, I have to say that every time that's happened to me, I've gotten rejected in the end. One publication is holding some of my poems right now for that very reason--they passed on them for one particular issue, but liked the poems and wrote me to say they were holding them back to consider for their next issue. Going by their proposed theme for said upcoming issue, I fully expect rejection because these don't fit their motif (or how I see it, anyway) but they are also known to change their themes according to what rises from the slush pile, or their editorial vision just might somehow fit what I've written even though I can't see how sitting here right now, sort of thing. We'll see.

Yay! I love those story breakthroughs where you can see one idea solving the problem. So frustrating waiting for that epiphanal moment though! Good luck with making those changes and going with whatever emerges!!!

I did the open mike last night. Went awesome! I read four poems and there were about twenty-five people there. It was at this cute little tea and games café downtown so awesome venue and about seven people read poems total and one guy even played on his trumpet! Now I feel ready for the library reading coming up in the fall.

Today, I might try and find more markets for my ghost story. Or watch more Olympic events....we'll see.